After several hours of debate the House unanimously approved a sweeping education reform proposal aimed at closing Connecticut’s worst-in-the-nation achievement gap.

The chamber erupted in cheers as the vote board lit up green.

The bill now goes to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for approval. It passed the Senate 28-7 early Tuesday morning after a press conference late Monday during which Malloy stood with Democratic legislative leaders and announced that after months of negotiation they had reached a compromise.

Malloy didn’t get everything he wanted in the final bill, but he got more than legislative leaders initially wanted to give him after he shocked them with his opening day remarks regarding teacher tenure.

The governor opened up the legislative session in February telling teachers, “basically the only thing you have to do is show up for four years. Do that, and tenure is yours.” The statement would haunt him for the next three months as he traveled the state holding public forums where teachers turned out in large numbers to voice their displeasure with Malloy’s plan.

At Monday’s press conference, Malloy he didn’t talk about how the revised legislation handled teacher tenure — except to say that the bill in its entirety upheld the six education principles he detailed last December.

Education reform advocates praised the legislation as a forward step toward changing the state’s educational achievement, and the state’s two teacher unions were content with how collective bargaining and tenure changes were handled.

Earlier today Malloy admitted to a New York radio show host that it got “a little dusty” for awhile, but it all worked out in the end. He said the bill doesn’t do away with tenure, but the compromise bill establishes an evaluation system that isn’t stopped by tenure.

Malloy’s plan would have required teachers to re-earn their tenure every five years, based on evaluations tied largely to student achievement. Under the proposal, new teachers would get tenure after three years if they earn two “exemplary” evaluations and after five years with three “proficient” or “exemplary” evaluations.

Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, co-chairman of the Education Committee, said the tenure situation described by Malloy in his opening remarks back in February is not what he’s witnessed as he went on to describe the legislation on the House floor Tuesday afternoon. The bill requires teachers to be evaluated on an annual basis, and their tenure will be based on their performance evaluations.

A teacher will be required to earn an “effective” evaluation to earn tenure after their first four years of teaching and in order to lose it they will have to receive an “ineffective” rating, but neither will be tied to certification or pay.

In addition, 8 to 10 schools will be asked to pilot an evaluation system using the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council’s guidelines, which are still being finalized. The evaluation process will then be assessed by the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education, and in the following year all districts will employ an evaluation system.

Christine Stuart photo

Rep. Andrew Fleischmann and Rep. Marilyn Giuliano congratulate each other after passage of the bill

Rep. Marilyn Giuliano, R-Old Saybrook, said she hoped “that we might find how to craft that fair and equitable linkage of teacher evaluation to student learning.”

The state advisory council, which is finalizing the evaluation framework, has recommended that student performance should count as 45 percent of a teacher’s evaluation, another 40 percent should be based upon an administrator’s observation, and parent and student feedback should make up the rest.

Giuliano worried about what would happen to a hypothetical teacher named “Mrs. Fudge,” who she described as an excellent kindergarten teacher talented enough to take on autistic children and English Language Learners. Giuliano expressed concern that under an evaluation system, Mrs. Fudge may be viewed as a failing teacher if too much weight is given to student test scores.

Fleischmann did not address Giuliano’s concerns directly, but explained how the bill would treat evaluations.

“The goal of teacher evaluations should be to continuously improve and reform teaching so as to better educate our students,” Rep. Noreen Kokoruda, R-Madison, said quoting one of the teachers who contacted her during the past 90 days.

“There’s a lot to like in this bill,” Kokoruda said, praising the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus for taking the initiative to release their own proposal and help those negotiating the bill to find compromise.

“I feel it really was that caucus that got us back on track,” Kokoruda said.

The Black and Puerto Rican Caucus also was praised by national reform advocates, such as Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst organization that spent as much as $790,000 on advertising in favor of the governor’s original reform package.

“The Black and Puerto Rican Caucus stood up for reforms while the governor made clear he would veto anything that did not advance student interests,” an email to a StudentsFirst supporter reads. “This combination of political forces withstood an intense lobbying effort by those vested in the status quo, including the national NEA and AFT, who poured in resources and pulled out all the stops to try to derail reform in Connecticut.”

The teacher unions said their lobbying efforts pale in comparison and while they weren’t able to give an exact figure for how much they spent, they were confident they didn’t spend as much as StudentsFirst and other reform groups.

The Black and Puerto Rican Caucus released a position paper last week to urge those negotiating the bill behind closed doors to reach a consensus that included using charter schools and “impact bargaining,” which would allow teachers to bargain working conditions such as longer school days outside of their larger contract. That idea, along with a kindergarten to third grade reading initiative, was included in the final bill.

“I don’t know if it was us that changed things around,” said Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, chairman of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus. “Some people realized you can be a Democrat, you can be progressive, you can be pro-teacher and still want to make sure reform is as strong as possible.”

Fleischmann bristled at the notion that the bill, with its 97 sections, was just one step forward. “It is more than a nice step. It is a giant leap which is long overdue,” Fleischmann said.

The teacher unions also praised the legislation.

“This will give teachers the support and training they need to be successful in their profession,” Sharon Palmer, president of AFT Connecticut, said.

She was joined in her praise by Phil Apruzzese, president of the Connecticut Education Association, who talked about the ups and downs of the past few months of debate.

“At its lowest point, the debate demonized teachers,” Apruzzese said. “Fortunately, with leadership in the Education Committee and in the House and Senate, the state turned a corner and put the emphasis on where it belongs: more pre-K, early literacy, health and social supports for disadvantaged students, respect for teachers bargaining rights, improved and fair teacher evaluation and dismissal, and access to innovative programs with proven track records.”

Comments

(6) Archived Comments

posted by: realist always | May 9, 2012 1:02am

governor reform necessary.we the citizens of ct. have a governor that has proven that we have a system that is broken and has failed us.all the governor has to do is SHOW UP and he can keep his job as an inept governor.for the past 16 months the governor has proven himself as a pathalogical liar,bully,and has underachived in leading the state of ct. citizens in a responsible compitant and dignified manner. malloy has proven how necessary it is for the citizens of ct. to demand for our legislators to hold a emergency legislative session and enact a recall law so the citizens of ct. can terminate malloy’s bullying,inept and disrespectfull conduct.

posted by: realist always | May 9, 2012 8:32am

if a teacher gave thier students a 245 page on any kind of topic at first period and assigned them all to have an accurate informed verbal report ready to present to the class at 7th period that teacher would be labled incompitant and accused of setting unrealistic expectations. however bully malloy can give the house of representatives a 245 page bill and tell them to give an informed and accurate vote 5 hrs later is unethical,immoral and incompitant on bully malloys part.this underachiving inept governor who has taken us citizens of ct. in the wrong direction for the past 16 months is exactly why the state of ct. needs governor reform. all this inept bullying governor has to do is SHOW UP and can keep his job despite his poor performance record of the past 16 months.citizens of ct. it is very important that we insist on having governor reform in the name of recall law.

posted by: brutus2011 | May 9, 2012 10:50am

I want to see how this whole process is to be evaluated.

I call on the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus to closely monitor what is happening in our communities regarding struggling schools—say for example, in New Haven.

I am skeptical of any real results in New Haven unless their is a change in leadership including the teacher’s union.

There is a far too chummy relationship between all the ed managers in our city—and it has been that way for far too long.

I know the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus understands the politics involved.

For example: where are the dollars really ending up and are they truly impacting the classroom? Or is there to more skimming from the top?

I respectfully request that Caucus do its due diligence and use this moment to advance real change in our community’s schools.

Now that all the shouting and grandstanding is over, lets hope that enough attention is still on what is going to happen as we move forward.

posted by: Zachary Smith | May 9, 2012 5:28pm

Brutus, let me clarify your point, this “reform” is all about controlling the money and the favors, and not anything else.

The last thing any parent needs is more state control. More state control means less local control. Less local control means that the parents lose, period. This is Malloy’s “reform” in a nutshell.

Why do we always think that MORE government intervention is the answer? It hasn’t worked so far, yet we keep doubling down on it.

Why would we want to turn our schools into bastions of inane bureaucracy and expect different results than what we get from state run enterprises like the DMV?

posted by: SocialButterfly | May 10, 2012 8:38am

Gov. Malloy follows the “more government ideology” of his protoge - Pres. Obama. That’s why our country is broke - and the State of Connecticut is also in the deficit spending model.

Although, “Big Spender Dan” would call this “Democratic Prosperity!”

Politicians like Malloy—are killing this country.

posted by: Adamec | May 10, 2012 10:11am

SB 458: The alphabet soup of Education Reform groups must be positively giddy over the prospects of a Commissioner’s Network of Schools and provisions for private education management organizations.

The revenue stream for administrators for as many as 25 schools a year potentially chosen by the commissioner must look very appealing. And how will the contracts be awarded? Through the State Education Resource Center?